Nature's first green is gold,
Her hardest hue to hold.
Her early leaf's a flower;
But only so an hour.
Then leaf subsides to leaf.
So Eden sank to grief,
So dawn goes down to day.
Nothing gold can stay.

I love this poem. This poem not only applies to nature as can be seen in the
lines, but also to life in general. It describes the ups and downs in life
pretty well.
This poem was used very effectively in the movie 'The Outsiders', based on a
book by S.E. Hinton. If you get a chance, get hold of the song 'Stay Gold'
and its lyrics, by Stevie Wonder from the soundtrack to this movie. It
complements the poem very well.
Gopal.
[Minstrels Links]
Robert Frost:
Poem #51, The Road Not Taken
Poem #155, Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening
Poem #170, The Need of Being Versed in Country Things
Poem #336, A Patch of Old Snow
Poem #681, The Secret Sits
Poem #730, Mending Wall
Poem #779, Fire and Ice
Poem #917, A Considerable Speck
Poem #985, Once by the Pacific
Poem #994, The Gift Outright

This poem is one of the most radiant in simplistic beauty of all American poetry. The amount of depth Frost configures in eight lines would take most poets 100 pages! It is both moving and understandable to children of all ages. Thank goodness the novel, The Outsiders, has made this poem such a popular one!

I love this poem. It's in "The Outsiders", and I'm currently reading it in myLanguage Arts [English] class since I'm in eight grade. Robert Frost is agenius when it comes to poetry and all of his writings and I really liked howS.E. Hinton fit this poem right in the story, especially how Ponyboy recitedit to Johnny.

i luv this poem. it's so beautiful, and I admire how someone can put somuch meaning into so little words. It really makes you think. I'm in eigthgrade, I haven't read "The Outsiders", but my friend did and since I own themovie and she told me it was good, I watched it and when I heard that poem,I thought it was beautiful, and I loved how Johnny explains it in the letterfor Ponyboy at the end.

This poem was so deep at first i didnt get how to interpret it but i love how there is so much meaning and now i understand that we take so much for granted and dont know how different life would be once its gone. i absolutely love the book THe Outsiders we are going to see the movie next week and i cant wait.. im in 7th grade and i have never felt anythign deep liek this btu i love it

I love this poem it has meant so much to me.I 1st read it and saw the movies in "The Ousiders" by S. E. Hintonand I fell in love. He descibes being new to thing like a newborn soopenmindednot subjeted to all the drama, narrow mindness etc. that you collect whilegetting older the ma is a genius and has allowed me to find another would ofanalyzing poetry I just wish i could be able to understand everyting he tried toexpess in that poem.

It's a well written poem and my AP English class has been comparing it to"The Catcher in the Rye" by J.D. Salinger. We came to the conclusion that it wasabout innocense and how we only stay innocent for so long. "Nothing Gold CanStay" would then refer to the fact that no mortal person can retain theirinnocense. Frost is a very romantic poet in that he refers it all back tonature.

In the book, the Outsiders, it has this poem and at the end of the book Johnny says, "Stay gold Ponyboy, stay gold." Then Johnny dies. Explain to me the meaning of these last words. Send your response to . Thanks a lot.

My best friend got the phrase "Nothing Gold Can Stay" on his back 2 weeksbefore he committed suicide. To me the poem represents him. He was a golden man,everyone loved him. He was brilliant, kind, and very successful. But there wasa saddness in him, undetectable to the eye. Perhaps this poem was a cry outto what his life was really like....

The Outsiders is a book that has changed they way we look atliterature today. S.E. Hinton wasn't afraid to be edgy, which has paved the wayfor a numerous amount of writers. As well as being edgy, she managed toincorporate this beautiful poem into the storyline effectively, and in a way that haslingered in peoples mind after reading it. I'm 14 years old, and literature,as well as this book, have become a permanent fixture in my life. This poemreally makes me see how lucky i am to be young, and to treasure this time becauseit only comes once in a lifetime.

i'm 26 years old, and i read this poem for the first time in the 7th or 8th grade too. to this day, it remains to be my favorite. to this day it touches me. that's the universality of frost. amazing. nothing gold can stay, he says. this is true, yet the memory of the poem and it's juxtoposition to "gold" remains. the irony grabs me.

this poem is one of the few that i know by heart. It just seems to say something that i relate really profoundly to. and somehow the author managed to make even something like "nothing good can last" something beatiful.great poem. And it's just small enough enough to say it in more words than i would've thought, but not so many that it becomes too much.

This is such a great poem. I love it so Much. I know it line by line. This poem means that when we have something or someone we should apreciateit and take adventage of it, because it won't last forever. Once it's gonewe will know how much we wanted it and needed it and we'll be sorry we neverreally noticed it.

Did you know S.E. Hinton was only a couple of years older than you when shewrote that book? She has a bit part in the movie "The Outsiders". Of course,now, she's much older. and wiser I'm sure.

Also, she wrote the book under her initials to disguise that fact that she'sa woman. In the 60s it was thought women were incapable of writing so well.When she arrived on the set to film the movie they were shocked to discovershe wasn't a man.

I first read this poem when I was in sixth grade--nothing has moved me more than the words, and how such a small poem can have such a strong message. I also read S.E. Hinton's The Outsider's and this poem is a mind-blowing combination. This and The Road not Taken are my fav poems!!!!

hi. my name is ben. im in seventh grade and i just read the book "the outsiders" my family loves robet frost's poems. Anyway, we had a class discussion in english about the porm. this is probably 2 late, but it meanas that...line 1 talks about when you are born. Your early and young.line 2 means that it's fast and that u dont have much time 2 b youngline 3 means the same as line 1line 4 means the same as line 2line 5 means thesame thing as lines 2&4line 6 means mothers are sad that the children grew up so fastline 6 means the same as 2,4, &5line 8 means the same thing as line 1&3

My daughter died......a year later while visiting her grave I found this poem handwritten and decorated then laminated by her friend. I knew then that the grief of her young friends (she was only 16) was as much as mine. I have this poem in my heart now

This is a great poem. I love how Johnny in The Outsiders explains at the end about what the poem means. I'm 11 years old and i memorized it the first time i read it. It only took my 2 days too. Love it so much. And the song "Stay Gold" really does compliments the poem. LOVE IT!

hello!i'm a french student and i love that movie and that poem too, i saw it when i was 13 or 14 (now i'm 16) and they made me cry but i do love american litteraturei think as most of u said that it's about innocence and in french we say 'candeur' (like innocence which is also a french word)well, if u had some other poem to make me read, my address is orby the way, if u like Frost, u'd probably like Baudelaire!gbye!

were reading the book the outsiders i love it. all the 7th graders like it well atleast my friends do. the poem realy means alot to me because the day i read the poem with my friend she died later in a car crash.so when i hear it i cry.

I love the book the outsiders were reading it in my Language arts class sence im in 7th. We had to do a project on the poem we had to memorize it. im also doing it for a prize thats how much i like it.

This poem is great. It says so much in only a little words. I've read The Outsiders and it's use in the story is great. "Stay gold." I have to admit I was a little confused when Johnny said that. We discussed the poem in our class. Our teacher said :"Spring is so short and not too many people stop to enjoy the beauties that come in spring." I can agree with that.+

I have been reading the various comments on the amazing poem, an it pleases me to see how many people know of The Outsiders. It was my favourite book and still is today, although I have to say that it pains me to see how many people still do not understand what it means. Both this poem and The Outsiders have changed my life forever. For those who think it needs to have a rhyming scheme to make it a poem, you are sadly mistaken. When my grade seven class read this book, I think I was the only one who actually understood S. E. Hinton's and Robert Frost's hidden meanings behind it all. Even though I know what this poem means, I refuse to reveal it to the public. I wish I could, and talk about it a little (I would of course be pouring my heart and soul into the keyboard) but it would just ruin it for those of you who are looking on this page for homework help. You shame me, to tell you the truth.

Well, I guess Im really out of it! Ive always been enchanted by this, and thought it was my personal poem. Ive never met anyone else who knew it. I never heard it in school, and havent seen or heard the references to it in print and melody mentioned above. But I think of it every spring when the first gold-green leaves peek out, and in what I call the golden timelate afternoon when everything has a golden hue. That time has always seemed poignant to me, as does the poem in its entirety (perhaps because at 60 Im well past natures first green). However, the first three lines always remind me of the promise of spring, my beloved season, full of joy and excitement.

This poem was confusing at first and then I read about it and I realizedthat it's a metaphor for several things. It's telling how nature worsensover time; the plants loose their gold and wilt. The gold color doesn't stayvery long which could be a metaphor for real gold because gold brings wealthwhich also doesn't stay very long.

This poem was very confusing at first but then I realized that it actuallywas a metaphor for several different things. Its telling you how plants dieafter time and they loose their gold color and their flowers don't last verylong. It is also a metaphor for real gold. Gold makes you wealthy and wealthmay not last very long just like the color gold on the leaves.

I enjoyed reading this poem- the first two lines express how the beauty ofyouth is so precious in that you cannot hold onto it forever. The next twofurther stress this idea. In summation, I liked how the poem used nature todescribe an inevitable truth- nothing can be as beautiful as it once was.Beauty continuously changes into the initial fresh, naked beauty of youth nolonger shows its face. But, not to worry- though not the same, the sun willrise again. As will spring come again and flowers bloom again. Beautydisappears as frequently as it reappears.

This poem desribes the essence of time in our lives. It describes the innocent chilhood period of time, and compares it to nature. Even though it is described in a mere eight lines, it completly portrays the "golden age" of a person.

The line 'Nature's first green is gold' is quoted in the movie TheAssassin (aka Point of no return) by Anne Bancroft. The movie featuresBridget Fonda, Gabriel Byrne, and Dermot Mulroney. What a beautifulpoem that captures life and nature so wonderfully.

This blog is amazing!!!i stay impressive with the whole information because is absolutely interesting and wonderful. Simply wonderful. i love the the gold,because it drive me crazy. i can´t go out without buy some gold for me and i like to buy viagra in other line because i like to enjoy my sexual life openly.

Poems are simply such an expression of human feelings. The main fact of the matter is that while reading a beautiful poem, just like this, makes me feel like if I were in heaven.I promise that, As soon as I manage to find a nice poem, then I will let you know about it.

Nature's first green is gold,---Dawn is Natures first.---Dawn's first light on a leaf---turns it goldHer hardest hue to hold.---The sun only has that effect---at the short lived dawn.Her early leaf's a flower;---Dawn turns the leaf magically gold.---For a short while it ---transforms it into a flowerBut only so an hour.---The dawn only lasts an hour---It is short livedThen leaf subsides to leaf,---And when it is over, ---the leaf will again look like a leaf---(leaf or flower? Flower!)So Eden sank to grief,---because of the lowly leaf,---they were cast out of Eden!---(a neurotic association)---(very, very funny)So dawn goes down to day---Dawn is over and has now become day---(and the leaf is again a leaf)Nothing gold can stay---neurotic generalization to everything---he was so taken with the dawn---and it's effects and so-let----down when it became day---what a wit---he's better than Woody Allen

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